This disclosure relates to mounting a microphone on a vehicle headliner.
Many current vehicles in the marketplace are equipped with microphones either for enabling a vehicle occupant to engage in verbal communications with remotely located entity, or for detecting noise within a vehicle cabin as part of a noise cancellation system.
A current method of mounting a microphone in a vehicle headliner places the microphone on a roof-side of the headliner (i.e., in a region between the roof of the vehicle and a top surface of the headliner which faces the roof). A sensing hole is provided in the headliner directly below the microphone so the microphone can sense sound (e.g., vehicle noise) within the cabin. Such sensing holes are molded into the headliner in their desired position at the time the headliner is formed. Manufacturers typically mount a finishing grill over the microphone hole on the cabin-side of the headliner.
The sensing hole may allow air to rush in and out between the roof and passenger cabin sides of the headliner, which can result in false noise readings by the microphone. To help address this issue, in some cases, a sealing foam ring (e.g., a closed cell foam ring) is provided to seal the microphone and the sensing hole from the air space on the roof side of the headliner.